Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1887-01-29
IN. THE CRIMEA.-

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Frashouidne Was returning with MikhAilo&
He had reached q ISIS exposed position (undel
the ramparts), and was beginning to recover
his self-possession, when, as he turned hi,
head, he perceived the sudden flash OF Q gun
the sentinel ON the bastion cried out:
"Mor-tarT
And u Of tho soldiers following him
shouted.
TITS coming straight for tho bastion!"
Mikhailof looked The luminous point Of
the bomb seemed to have stopped in its zenith
just at the moment when the direction it was
about to take was impossible to determine; il
was only the space Of a second; suddenly the
projectle, redoubling its velocity, CAM
nearer and nearer; already the flying sparks
OF its fuse could be seen, and its dismal whistle
became audible; it was going to tall in the
very middle of the battalion.
"Lie down." cried a voice.
Mikhailof and Praskoukine obeyed. The
latter, with his eyes closed, heard the bomb
milling somewhere very close beside him on
the hard ground. A second, which seemed to
him ar hour, passed; the bomb did not ex-
plode. Praskoukine became terrified; then
he argued with himself whether there was
really any reason for him to be afraid; per
haps it had fallen away further than he
thought, and be might have been mistaken in
imagining that he could hear the fuse crack
ling beside him Opening his eyes he saw
with much satisfaction that Mikhailof was
lying motionles at his feet; but at the same
time he saw, only about one archine away,
the flaming fuse Of the bomb which was spin
ming like a top.
A glacial terror which killed all other feel
ing, every other idea, took possession Of his
whole being; he covered his face with both
hands.
Still another second passed, during which q
whole world of fancies, hopes, sensations and
memories passed through his mind.
who is it going to KLINE OF Mikhailof,
or both of US togetherl And if it is me, where
Is It going to strike met If it strikes me in
the head, then it will be all up with me; il in
tho foot, they will cut the foot of. Then I
win insist on being chloroformed, and will be
able to live on. Perhaps only Mikhailof will
be killed; and afterward I will be able to tell
how we were together, and how I was cov-
cred with his blood. No, no! 1t is nearer to
mel! 1t will be mel"
Then he thought Of the twelve roubles he
still owed Mikhailof, and Of another debt he
owed at st. Petersburg, which ought to have
been paid long ago; a gypsy air LIE had been
singing the night before came to his memory.
Also in imagination he saw the woman he
loved, wearing a bonnet with lilac ribbons;
and also the man who had insulted him five
years before, whom he had not yet had a
chance to revenge himself upon; but through
all fhoso onA Yoonu Qfhor co,,x1onirr Tho fool
ing of the present-the sense Of waiting for
to go off at ALI" he thought, and he was
about to open his eyes with desperate au-
dacity; but at that very moment, even through
his still closed eyelids, a red flame smote his
eyes; something, with a frightful noise,
struck him in the middle of the breast, he
sprang up and ran forward at random,
tripped himself up over his W sword, and
fell heavily upon his side.
"God be praised! l am only bruised"
That was his first thought. Then he
wanted to feel his breast; but his hands
seemed to him to have become suddenly tied,
and his head caught in q wise; before his eyes
soldiers were running by; he counted them
mechanically:
"One, two, three soldiers, and there's an
officer who's going to lose his cloak"
Another flash came; be wondered what had
been fred-whether it was q mortar or q can
non? OF course cannon. More firing; and
more soldiers-fve, six, seven; they were
passing him; and all at once he felt a terrible
fear of being crushed by them. He wanted
to cry out, to tell them how bruised he was;
but his mouth was dry-his tongue stuck to
his palate-he felt a burning thirst-he knew
that his breast was all wet, and this sensation
Of humidity made him think of water; he
would have liked to drink what was wetting
him. II must have skinned myself in fall
ing" he thought; and feeling more and more
efraid of being crushed by the soldiers who
were running by him in multitudes, he tried
more to cry out:
"Take mel"
But instead he uttered Q groan so awful
that the sound Of it terrified himself. Then
red sparks danced before his eyes. 1t seemed
to him that the soldiers were heaping stones
upon him; the sparks danced more slowly;
the stones that were being heaped upon him
stifed him more and more; he made a fren-
lied effort to push them off; he stretched him.
self out; he ceased to see, to hear, to think, to
feel. He had been killed by the splinter of a 7
shell which had struck him in the center of
the chest
Mikhailof also had thrown himself down on
seeing the bomb. Like P~raskoukine, he had |
thought Of all sorts of things during q couple |
Of seconds which preceded the explosion. He
prayed to God mentally, repeating to him.
self:
"May Thy will he donel Why, Lord, am /
, soldier1why did I exchange into the in
tantry for this ~campaign3 Why did l not
remain in the dragons, in the government of
-, near my dear friend Natacha! And
now this is what happens to mel"
He began to count one, two, three, four,
aging to himself that if the bomb should
at an even number he would live, If
1t an odd number he would be killed. ut
Is all up with me, l am killed." he thought,
Is he heard the crash of the explosion, with
,ut thinking any more about odd numbers or
wen numbers. Struck in the head be felt a
pain.
"Lord forgive me my sins!" he murmured,
his hands.
He tried to rise and fell back unconscious
With his face to the ground.
On coming to himself again his first sensa-
ion was the trucking of blood from his nose,
'ut the pain in his head was much less
"This is death and what is there beyond.
Ny God, receive my soul into Thy peace!
it is very strange" be thought,
I am dying and yet I can hear the steps Of
be soldiers and the sound of firing"
"Bring the litter here, the chief of the com.
ANY is killed" cried a voice which he recog-